Wizard Episode 37: "Wanted: Despair" Discussion
 

After seeing the RAW I have two points to bring up:

1: The police is this series are WORTHLESS. This episode made me like Rinko a little more since she handles their crap quite well, even if she's marginally better than Inspector Gadget.

2: I was bummed and annoyed that we didn't get more intell on the Sabbath and how it relates to what we have learned about the Phantoms.

I hated the Gate and cheered when he went into despair. I wanted him to become a Phantom, which is a terrible thing to wish on a Gate, but I wanted him to do that so badly after seeing and hearing his selfish antics for two episodes. Pity he might survive since Haruto and Nito were on the scene when that part happened. Stupid Wizard.

All in all I'll give this a 2 out of 5. I felt let down after waiting for this. I'm concerned we'll never get a full answer about what the heck Wiseman is planing.

Subs are out!

It's ep 37 and still...nothing...has....happened. We are getting little snippets of plot but no real payoff. Wiseman is one of the most lazy villains I've ever see, but I'm sure his reveal will be 'shocking'.

Also, the police are completely and utterly inept in this series. It's pathetic. Wait...is this suposed to be some kind of social commentary or something?

For fun let's have a guessing game:

Who the hell is Wiseman?:
A) The White Wizard
B) Shigeru Wajima
C) A Child version of Haruto
D) Someone we haven't met yet
E) Haim Saban

I like the idea behind the last couple episodes, it was something a bit different and I liked Shunpei and Rinko having a bit more to do, but I dunno...I was a bit let down with the final payoff at the end, especially considering the preview for next week seems to completely ignore it, which makes it feel like it was almost just a gag thrown in or something.

It's Haruto from the future from another timeline where he went into despair.

In a way, I both saw that ending coming, but didn't see it coming.

In the back of my head, I figured that If Kyuuta really meant that much to him, and then suddenly losing him, it would make sense he'd despair after losing his pet, but I didn't anticipate them actually going that route considering how safe Wizard has been playing so far. It's a nice ending and I'm actually really curious to see where it goes.

The ending did throw me of, but it was bound to happen. I think next episode will be about how Haruto takes it and maybe just one phantom being made in front of him might be enough for Wise mans plan depending if sending the Wizard into dispare is part of it or not(it would justify sending Phantom week after week in to die trying to make more Phantoms)

Was that ending supposed to be a joke ending? Because Rinko and Shunpei's reaction wasn't what I'd have expected from something like and the next episode preview didn't even mention it...

It felt like a joke ending to me. Considering the preview was entirely about the next Gate/Phantom and Haruto's relationship to him I think at most we'll get a brief wrap-up about what happened. And I'm not holding my breath for that.

I enjoyed the episode but yeah, it was pretty much filler and it's late to still be doing filler episodes.

Yeah, that was my exact thoughts when it happened. They had the typical Japanese anime/toku overreaction shot and no mention of it in the preview for next week.

Doubt anything comes of it.

This was quite possibly the worst episode of the entire series, no exaggeration, I got nothing. Rinko is gorgeous? The music is good? That still doesn't say anything about this episode specifically just my God...

I liked that Falco's Saber Strike level 6 caused Birdemic :lol

I couldn't even appreciate this series flashy action because it was just cased in a load of nothing. I can't even really call it shit or get angry about it because there was literally nothing of value or worth in this episode at all, you could cut this episode entirely and not even have a one percent impact on your experience. At least the last episode had Haruto's first meeting with Wiseman, this had...wet Rinko butt?

But if you cut this episode, we wouldn't have been graced with this.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8683/lgtad7d.png
And god forbid we deprive viewers of this scene :p

Oh God that is true, retract my previous statement :p

I won't lie: that part made me jump a bit. At least we got a really creepy Phantom out of this mess.

This pair of episodes is completely skippable. I've been so tolerant of Shunpei throughout the series,but these episodes really made me question why he's even around.Rinko at least has her being a cop to fall back on,but what does Shunpei even do?

I also hate how inept the cops in this show are."Hey one of our fellow officers is chasing after our suspect she MUST be an accomplice.NOPE NO OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION FOR THAT".Also,Rinko failing to catch ONE guy is reason enough to get her fired?

The one other time we had someone on the absolute edge of becoming a Phantom was Mayu and I was genuinely shocked to see that happen.Seeing it here with this perpetual well of unsympathetic self-pity,I wasn't sure what I was supposed to feel.And the overreaction shots from Shunpei and Rinko didn't help.Probably the worst episodes of the series for me.

I actually like this ep quite a bit. Rinko is as cute as ever and it's nice that she finally took control at the end and solve the crime. It's also hilarious that after all that the Gate still despaired.


Yeah the lack of plot development is really dumb. Enough with the Wiseman/White Wizard ambiguity. I want to know the truth already. And whatever happened to Maya (sp?) sister of Medusa? I want to see her as a Rider like last month. Grrrrr.

I enjoyed the bit where Nitou tried to use bird seed to catch the Phantom, but other than that this episode was pretty much garbage.

This...

All in all despite the awesomeness of Raom this episode has done nothing but confirm Shunpei's status as a Scrappy.

If I may be so bold he makes Alan from the Hangover Trilogy look like that main character from that Orange Country movie from way back. I can only hope he doesn't get anymore storylines as he's beyond saving.

Shunpei should have just turned into Cyclops. He's a waste of a character and he's earned a spot in my hated characters list along with Princess Clara, that robot cop from Fast Forward and Noa from Galaxy Angel.

I'm giving this one a 5 just for the scene of Nitou trying to catch the myna bird. That was hilarious. I'm really loving how Haruto is increasingly playing the Only Sane Man role in the cast.

This two parter was not the worst of the series, but it could have been a lot better. The fights were kind of boring this time around and the plot seemed assnine. It seems like they are just stalling now with filler before they get the last arc rolling. Not sure why though. Oh, and seriously, Shunpei needs to die. He is just as useless as Koyomi, but at least she isn't down right annoying in anything she does.

There were worse episodes..?

The ones with Hobgoblin were absolutely atrocious. At least these episodes were hysterical.

I think even the Hobgoblin episodes added more to the story than these did. I guess if you found it funny though...

What happened in the episodes with Hobgoblin, again?

That was the one with the worthless dudes that were being possessed to do stupid **** and Haruto got thrown into a garbage can. It was pretty bad, especially since most of the fights just had Hobgoblin standing there doing nothing while Haruto and Nitou wailed their blades around randomly without any choreography.

But we did learn more about Beast because of it, who was completely flat until that point basically, even with his Grandma almost dying.

These episodes added...wet Rinko butt.

No, we learned a lot more about Beast way back in the 20s.

I was gonna say 'I suppose but look where that went...nowhere.' but then, it didn't really go anywhere with Hobgoblin either. I think Beast is just an overrated character honestly, he's clearly in the wrong show and his goofballness is so forced he just feels paper thin and annoying.

I really think we are watching two different shows. Beast has been nothing but pure awesomeness since his introduction.

So everyone else has said, I perfectly understand I am in the minority but I find him gratuitously over hyped.

I think the thing is, he is different from the normal secondary riders, who usually always have some type of chip on their shoulders for the first half of their story.

There is nothing inherently wrong with him in himself - except his creeping character growth, but minus Haruto's stupid Driver Wizard has been a mostly serious series (mostly) so Mayo Rider running around shouting and being an idiot just feels like I hit the remote and changed channels for a second.

What is wrong with Haruto's driver? I think it is one of the best henshin devices.

The stupid voice for it is just completely out of place and really annoying.

Agree.
Oh my god, I hate the WizarDriver.

Every badass scene is ruined as soon as they have to use their powers and inane engrish and singing is shouted over everything.